The Wynn Marjan which is set to open in 2026 in Ras Al Khaimah, will be home to the UAE’s first casino around 18,500 sqm in size, according to Billings
According to Hotelier, this would make it one of the 10 biggest casinos in the world, and almost double the size of Wynn’s Vegas property. According to the Q3 earnings call, Wynn is putting a high amount of focus on the project, with Billings noting that the project has “a very high return opportunity for us we expect. And so, that’s really the focus of our design and development efforts at the moment.”
We will write more about Wynn Marjan casino in our new Digital Nomad guide, Dubai 2023.
Thinking of Gambling During Dubai Visit? Things You Should Know
The government and culture of the UAE strictly goes by the Islamic law, considering indulging in games of chance a huge sin. However, that doesn’t mean that Muslims don’t gamble ever. But betting with any real money is clearly disapproved of, and hence there’s a great deal of uniformity regarding such a ban in all the major Islamic nations.
Hence, despite being quite popular among business travellers, you won’t find any casinos in Dubai. Furthermore, you won’t also find any card rooms, legal sports betting options or lotteries in the city. Any form of betting through brick-and-mortar establishments is strictly prohibited.
If you compare Dubai to a county like United Kingdom, where both bricks and mortar, and online casinos are allowed then you will note quite a difference. For example, you can go through these comprehensive online casino reviews to see the top online casinos that operate in the United Kingdom. If you are British that is travelling to Dubai, it is worth keeping this in mind that what you do at home may not be ok in Dubai- even if it is gambling online.
Although no local online casinos, playing at foreign-based websites might be possible
Keeping in mind the strong ethical stance that UAE has against all forms of gambling, they don’t place equally stricter restrictions on online gambling opportunities provided by foreign-based operators. Not much can be done against the foreign-based online casinos and gambling platforms that accept players from Dubai and other parts of the UAE. Therefore, in practice, you might be able to access foreign-based online gambling platforms from Dubai. In fact, there are cases where players are able to freely play at online casinos with real money, at such offshore websites.